Why I created Better Earthling

“There is no such thing as ‘away.’ When we throw something away, it must go somewhere.” — environmentalist Annie Leonard

I have always had an aversion to waste. Well, maybe as a teenager, I couldn’t fathom why my grandmother, despite living in a 3,000 square-foot custom-built home in an affluent suburb of Dallas, reused aluminum foil, ground her own wheat for homemade bread and had a Tupperware container in her freezer in which she’d place as few as three green beans leftover from supper for a later soup . But eventually, my grandparents’ and parents’ ways began to make sense out of necessity.

I’ve always worked in communications or media. In public relations, it was in the non-profit sector. In media, as a creative in film and later journalism, well, it was in the very-little profit sector. When our children were young, my husband and I decided it would be best for him to give up his job in the oil and gas industry which had a schedule of 10 days traveling with four days off so he could be home more and watch them grow up. We deciding coaching T-ball, helping with homework and tucking in the kids each night was more important than a nearly six-figure salary. It was then mostly out of necessary thrift I began in greater earnest incorporating many of the zero-waste ways I still use today.

Living in a rural area, I’ve always been frustrated by the limited amount of recycling opportunities already. Then in early 2019, I began reading reports of China no longer buying our plastic waste. It was then I decided to double-down on my efforts of more conscious consumption. In researching ways to do so, the idea of Better Earthling was born.

It is my aim to provide well-researched, reliable information in an easily digestible format to help myself and others work towards a more conscious, environmentally-friendly way of life, or simply, to be better earthlings.